July 28, 2008

I was tagged with a meme by Christopher C. at Outside Clyde. I am not even sure of the definition of "meme" but I am pretty certain that it is an honor, and that is the way I am taking it, and I thank him. There are rules that go with this as follows:

#1 Link to the person who tagged you. I think I got this one already. #2 Post the rules on my blog. I am working on that as we speak.

#3 Write six random things about yourself. I'll get to that.#4 Tag six people at the end of the post. Small problem here. I will not be a complete party pooper in that I will partially participate, but I will not pass this one to anyone else as a matter of personal preference. I have walked out of Amway meetings and I have never responded to chain letters either, and I am sure children in a Romanian orphanage are less well fed and clothed as a result.#5 Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. See above.

#6 Let the tagger know when their entry is up. Consider it done.

Now for the reveal.

1. Horticulture is my second career. I spent the first dozen years of my adult life working in hotel/resort management. It was all very interesting, never a dull moment, but totally stressful what with the 24/7 business schedule. During that part of my career I witnessed one suicide attempt, help prevent another, was asked on more than one occasion to find a prostitute, caused an employee to have several seizures, and called the Department of Defense to report a suspected mine. It was not all thorns, there were a many roses too.

2. Like Christopher C. I have had many brushes with celebrities, most but not all of them were a result of my first career. Here are some of my memorable encounters:- Helping Tina Turner find a late night meal- Riding an elevator with Neil Diamond- Chatting it up with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans- Addressing Richard Pryor by an alias- Driving a frightened Dr. Rene Richard's car- Having my plane delayed because of Ronald Reagan- Getting stuck in traffic because of Jimmy Carter- Waiting in a green room with Sting- Enjoying a long conversation with Tina Weymouth- Helping Stills and Nash find a tardy Crosby- Folding a pleasing looking point on toilet paper rolls that Jimmy Swaggert would soon use

3. I enjoy movies and television shows dealing with stories of addiction and recovery or relapse. If a celebrity is involved it is even better. I watch A&E's Addiction, VH1's Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, and a lot of the wonderful trash on E and MTV.

4. My parents had the exact same name picked for me whether I was going to be a boy or a girl. Although I am proud of all three of my names, I've not always been comfortable with this bit of androgyny. I guess it could be worse - not one, but three of my ancestors were named Zorababel and considering that both sides of my family are related to each other, the name thing should be the least of my worries.

5. At one point in my life I wanted to be a speech pathologist, and thought I wanted to enter the program at Mary Washington College and was accepted. At the time they had only recently allowed males students, but it is now a completely co-ed and a full university. I choose not to go, because I thought Old Dominion University would be more fun, plus it was close to the beach. I ended up with a degree in Sociology with a heavy dose of Anthropology thrown in. Maybe I should reconsider, I here they now have a garden restoration program.

6. I collect religious memorabilia, broken bits of heads and faces from statues, books by southern photographers, large plastic reptiles, fezzes and shriner bling, hounds, and any interesting flotsam that washes up on the beach.